I don't know where the time has gone and so much has been going on in the past couple of weeks. I went to East of England show with Ann, taking Cougar who was BD and BOB, Cher 2nd OB, Deepha was 3rd. Cougar was also pulled out in the Group but not placed. In Groenendael Psyche won OB class and the CC(her first) and BOB. I must have looked surprised as I had been rushing up and down to the brace stakes and had "forgotten" we had tickets for Grons.

Last week I was judging at NW&PS and found an exciting young dog, Becanbrie Rohan at Linvetts, for the CC and BOB. Bitch CC went to a lovely young puppy bitch, Revloch XFactor. In Laekenois Ghiana d'Eroudur was BB and BOB and was pulled out in the Group, but unplaced, under a Finnish judge and Best Pastoral Rare Breed. Tervueren and Malinois were judged by Trevor Wheeler and Deepha had a RBCC to Camylle des iles des Sud who is a half sister to Cliche.In Tervueren Bruine and Yorn kids were placed in their classes.

The society were most welcoming and made sure we had plenty of good food. I had Terry and Maureen Donovan(Mr and Mrs Polo) as stewards so everything went smoothly, I really enjoyed my day.

Plenty of training in between with Cello and Cruz, and here is Cello practising his stays up the lane while I took photos. Cello loves his retrieve the best and is getting really good at his scent now.

News from abroad where Chiraze took yet another CAC and BOB ! Still not in season so I have entered her for the French Nationals. Thankyou Claire and Gaston for making this possible and looking after her so well. It is strange without her here but she is having a really good time and, at last, getting the recognition she deserves.

The back to back club shows are only a week away now so everyone is busy blowing their coats or coming in season--wouldn't you just know that would happen! I must get planning for the arrival of the campers the week after and organise the Beach picnic and Fun training day with BBQ. It has come round with amazing speed but I am so looking forward to seeing dogs and people we haven't seen for ages. I think it will be a weekend of grooming in preparation--if I can find any coats to groom !

The weather has finally broken and there is some air at last--we had some thunder and rain but it was warm in between.

Day 2 of Teazles tracking training and she definitely has got the hang of it. After a successful arced track she had a game with the big orange buoy we have in the field. She got quite manic about it and dribbled it round the field with accompanying barks of delight!

Steve had to go home today but not before we had had an impromptu bread making session. I have wanted to make my own bread for a long time but, only last week, decided to have a go. I was so fed up of buying bread only for it to grow furry jackets within a couple of days and not having any flavour. We made some multi-grain brown bread with cranberries, and tried out a new Rosemary bread recipe for the first time. Steve took his loaves home for Gerry to try out and the verdict was--success! Very tasty, the only problem being that they probably won't last as long as shop bought as they are too nice !

We have had a lovely weekend, Steve came down for a few days with Kyp and Teazle while Gerry was away with her daughters at Longleat and we went to Dogs Unleashed at Newark, a doggy extravaganza. There was Flyball, Agility, Scurries etc and Teazle and Kyp had a go at the weight pulling. They firstly put a pulling harness on and then attach a chain, once the dog is used to dragging that behind them they then add a small metal sled . The idea is to add weights to it but Teazle tried out the trailer which weighs 240kg, being on wheels once the initial pull is done it is easier to pull. Kyp tried the ball pool, where they had to try and retrieve as many toys as possible in one minute--the balls with black dots on earned them a biscuit. Barbara was there with Deja, Sam and Ziggy for the Agility and had a couple of clear rounds.

Kim and Gary brought their Bruine kids down and we took some photos. Carol had Darcy and Lucky on the CSJ trade stand so we took some photos of them with the stand too. I took Maisie, Rissa and Elle and they had a walk round, bouncing on unsuspecting passers by. We saw lots of Belgians there too.

Today we stayed at home and Steve started to teach Teazle to track, she soon started to get the hang of it. It was hot again so we watched the Mens Finals at Wimbledon in the cool and then took Teazle out to play in the field whilst we moved some fencing.

The weather is unbearably hot and sticky and the dogs are fed up. It is too hot to put them out during the day so they have to go out in the evenings. I have been grooming in the shade as much as possible but they all seem to be blowing their coats big style.

The Malinois pups have been crashed out trying to keep cool, with quick bursts of playing and lots of paddling in their water trough.

The chicken coops arrived and we now have four pens ready. Today saw the arrival of four Silver Laced Wyandottes (you wouldn't believe how many different breeds of chicken there are), these are the Bantam version and are very spectacular. They are very young birds and hadn't a clue about going to bed in their new house so it was a job to catch them and put them to bed. The chicks were badly affected by the humidity and we now are left with only two sadly--fingers crossed they will survive.

WOW what a weekend !! There was me just doing my dogs at home when I got a phonecall to say that Ann Brown with Deepha had not only gone BOB but won the Pastoral Group at Blackpool Championship show, making Breed history, being the only Malinois Ever to win a Group at this level in the UK !!! We will definitely be celebrating this win when they come down to stay in a couple of weeks time!

Meanwhile Grace with Kiah won Grade 3 Agility and is now into Grade 4. What a star !

Jo has had a good weekend too. Keisha won Novice Jumping,Novice Agility and 4th in Power and Speed; Kody 4th Primary Jumping,Ronny 1st Primary Agility and 2nd Primary Jumping. In Flyball the Brickyard Bandits were 3rd with a time of 20.05. In the ABC pairs Ronny and kody were 2nd and Ronny won the ABC Singles !! A great videoclip of Pudsey (Laekenois) doing his first Flyball run on Jos' blog (link below mali-mania).

Well Done everyone for keeping the Bonvivant flag flying!!!!!

Just when I thought it was safe to get my supper and get to bed Lisa rang to say that Fidget had decided to start whelping. She wasn't due until Thursday but she was such a size I think she had no option! Two pups had decided to arrive together and this was not going to happen so I had to manipulate one back to get the first one born. After that they came regularly and all were good strong pups. 4 bitches and 3 dogs and it looks like there are 3 greys. I had expected some as Fidgets' sister, Flic, is grey as is Bruine. It was a long night but lovely to see Fidget happy with her brood.

Training Tuesday and Wednesday with Cello and Crusoe. Cello blotted his copybook when he nipped off on the way to his retrieve to grab some yummy chocolate cake that had been brought to celebrate Davids' win in B. Joan makes the best choc cake and Cello just loves it--he did go and do his retrieve afterwards, then washed his cake down with some elderflower wine!

Crusoe is very laid back about his lessons and watches from an upside down position most of the time! (photo below)

What a busy week, and I did intend to update a lot sooner but the time just sped by. I had some lovely photos sent to me this week. Two from Bridgit of Tiva, one of her looking like something out of Return of the Jedi with her sandy boots on, and one of her at an exemption show getting her Rosette. Max is having a great time and is seen here relaxing with his equine friend--what a great photo.

Yukon, a Chili son is looking good on the settee and has been busy making friends at the agility shows.

It has been another chicken week--we now have six chicks--only a few days old, but they are growing so fast! In the next few days we are going to try hatching some eggs from various rare breed eggs--fingers crossed we will have little chicks by mid-july (hopefully we will get a good hatch rate). We have been making pens for when they are big enough to go out and I will post before,during and after photos. The hens are beginning to lay a few eggs now and they are quite fascinating to watch. I shan't be showing them though :)) I never knew there were so many different breeds and we have been visiting a local rare breeds farm, being followed by goslings and even seeing a newly hatched Rhea chick--amazing creature.

The weather, on the whole, has been glorious, and the dogs have all had plenty of run time-hopefully getting a bit fitter after such a long winter of cold,wet weather. More obedience training for Cello and Cruz and they are definitely getting a lot better despite my rusty handling--you never know we may be ready to compete by next year ! I must take some more photos but I have been catching up on more mundane kennel jobs and lots of grooming.

I went to see Fidget who is due to whelp any day, she is enormous but very cheerful despite looking as if she might explode at any moment!